We didn’t offer pastors N6bn bribe –PDP

The national leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party said it did not offer a bribe of N6bn to some Christian leaders for the purpose of helping President Goodluck Jonathan to win the February 14 presidential election.

The PDP’s National Publicity Secretary, Mr. Olisa Metuh, who spoke at a press briefing in Abuja on Wednesday, said the party was alarmed about the allegation, which was made by the Director General of the All Progressives Congress Presidential Campaign Organisation, Rotimi Amaechi.

Amaechi, who is also the Governor of Rivers State, had accused the ruling party of bribing a group of clergy men with N6bn.

Metuh said, “Pastors are revered people and to bring their character into disrepute is a sin before God. We do not think anybody, let alone somebody who is a Christian, can make such a statement.

“We challenge the Director General of the APC to name such pastors and where the money is coming from.

“This attack is capable of bringing Christians and Muslims into a major disagreement and major dispute. If truly the person who issued this statement is a Catholic as he said, we are asking him to go for confession.”

Metuh also accused the Independent National Electoral Commission of conniving with the APC to deny non-indigenes in Lagos State their Permanent Voter Cards.

According to him, the PVCs belonging to the PDP supporters were being burnt in some states, and that the party had reported the matter to the electoral body.

Metuh said, “This has never happened before but we don’t know why the APC is doing such; may be because we have a credible presidential candidate and may be because we have a credible governorship candidate in Lagos State.

“We have the records and we are asking the non-indigenes involved that if by Friday, INEC still do not give them their PVCs, we will take a decisive action.

“We know that 90 per cent of these non-indigenes are supporters of the PDP. This is part of the APC Janjaweed ideology to truncate democracy in this country.

“The APC have been saying they were on top of the election, but now that it is obvious that PDP is on top, that President Goodluck Jonathan will win the election, they have resorted to causing mayhem.”

Metuh also denied that some PDP governors were trying to defect to the APC, arguing that the PDP governors had been participating in the party’s nationwide presidential campaigns.